News

Israel’s Oryx Vision Raises $50M

August 9, 2017 | Israeli company Oryx Vision, a developer of depth-sensing solutions for autonomous vehicles, has raised $50 million in Series B funding. Third Point Ventures and WRV led the round, with participation from Union Tech Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Maniv Mobility and Trucks VC. Founded in 2009 by David Ben-Bassat and Rani Wellingstein, the company provides driverless vehicles a detailed 3D view of their environment. To date, Oryx has raised $67 million.

Intel Completes Mobileye’s Acquisition

August 9, 2017 | Technology giant Intel has completed the acquisition of Israeli company Mobileye for $15.3 billion, the largest deal in Israel’s history. The two companies entered the acquisition agreement earlier this year. Mobileye was founded in Jerusalem, Israel, by Prof. Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram in 1999 and went public in 2014. It has developed a warning system that alerts drivers of road hazards using software, cameras, and sensors. It’s also a major player in the autonomous car industry.

Israeli VC Vintage Raises $215M

August 7, 2017 | Israeli venture capital firm Vintage Investment Partners has raised $215 million for its tenth fund, bringing its total equity to $1.5 billion. Founded by Alan Feld, Shlomo Dovrat, and Aharon Dovrat in 2003, the VC has invested in some 25 startups.

Mexichem To Buy 80% Of Israel’s Netafim for $1.5B

August 7, 2017| Mexican chemicals company Mexichem is acquiring 80 percent of Israel’s Netafim for $1.5 billion, which puts Netafim’s valuation at $1.9 billion. Netafim is a world leader in drip irrigation technologies for agriculture. Its technique – which saves 30-70 percent of the water used with overhead sprays, oscillating sprinklers and rotors – was developed in Israel in the 1960s.

Pharmaceutical Co Eloxx Raises $8M

August 3, 2017 | Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company Eloxx has raised $8 million in a Series C funding round led by LPS, a leading healthcare investor. Other investors such as Pontifax VC, Catalyst, KIP, DSC Funds, Dr. Phil Frost, OPKO Health Inc., and private investors also participated. This brings the company’s total equity to $38 million. The Herzliya company develops treatments for patients with rare genetic diseases triggered by mutations like Cystic Fibrosis and Cystinosis. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Silvia Noiman, Eloxx recently merged with Sevion Therapeutics and became a Sevion subsidiary. Sevion will use the name Eloxx and attempt to list its shares on Nasdaq.

LogMeIn Acquires Nanorep For $45M

August 3, 2017 | Multinational company LogMeIn has acquired Israeli chatbot and virtual assistant startup Nanorep for approximately $45 million. LogMeIn is also expected to pay up to $5 million to Nanorep employees, conditional on performance over two years. Founded in 2009 by Amit Ben Shahar, Aviv Dror, Doron Herzlich and Ofer David, Nanorep uses artificial intelligence and patented natural language processing technologies to make self-service more engaging. It is currently used by over 200 companies worldwide, and has raised $11 million to date.

Cyber Startup GuardiCore Raises $15M

August 3, 2017 | GuardiCore, an Israeli cyber-security firm, has raised $15 million in funding from TPG Growth, a private equity firm. Founded in 2013 by Pavel Gurvich, Dror Sal’ee, and Ariel Zeitlin, GuardiCore specializes in protecting data centers from cyber threats with real-time breach detection and response. The latest investment brings the company’s total equity funding to $46 million, and its investors include 83North and Battery Ventures.

Israeli Startup ProoV Raises $14M

August 3, 2017 | ProoV, an Israeli startup that streamlines the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) process for startups and enterprises, has raised $14 million in a Series B funding round led by Helios Capital and Mangrove Capital Partners. Founded in 2016 by Toby Olshanetsky and Alexey Sapozhnikov, ProoV makes it easier for startups to test product ideas by providing an automated, cloud-based testing environment. ProoV currently has 1,000 companies signed up to their platform. The startup will use to funding to enhance its platform offering, establish an office in New York City, and expand its North American client portfolio.

Virtual Reality Startup Inception Raises $15M

August 3, 2017 | Inception, an Israeli startup that specializes in virtual reality entertainment content, has raised $15 million. Founded in 2016 by Dana Porter, Effi Wizen, Benny Arbel, Nitzan Shenhar, and Gigi Levy-Weiss, the company created an app to deliver premium 360 and VR content including musical, artistic, and cultural experiences to its international users. The Series A funding round was led by RTL Group. The funds will be used to expand the company’s content, enhance their technology platform, and accelerate growth. [Photo: Courtesy].

Israeli Biomed Firm Silenseed Raises $10M

August 1, 2017 | Silenseed, an Israeli, clinical-stage bio-pharmaceutical company that develops cancer therapies, is raising $10 million. Founded in 1999 by Amotz Shemi, the company is planning to use the money to fund the second phase of a trial, which was recently approved by the FDA, to develop a pancreatic cancer treatment. Silenseed uses a targeted RNA interference (RNAi) to develop the cancer drugs and delivery systems for treatment.

Drone Startup Atlas Dynamics Raises $8M

August 1, 2017 | Atlas Dynamics, an Israeli-founded startup that provides fully autonomous drone-based solutions, has raised $8 million from investment groups in Israel and in Asia. Founded in 2015 by Ivan Tolchinsky (CEO) and Igor Zhydanov (CTO), this is the first round of funding obtained by the company. It will use the funds to further develop its technical drone-based data solutions and to build its presence in North American markets. The drones provide users with valuable data in a timely manner, which can benefit markets such as infrastructure inspection, construction, security, first response, delivery, and insurance.

PE Funds Invest $807M In Israeli Firms

July 31, 2017 | Private equity funds invested $807 million in Israeli companies in the first half of 2017, according to a report by IVC Research Center and Israeli law firm Shibolet. Of the $807 million, $470 million were invested by Israeli PE funds, which reflects an improvement from the first half of 2016. Although the second quarter of 2017 was slow (with only $164 million invested in eight deals by Israeli PE funds), the strong first quarter meant that, in total, over the first half of 2017, Israeli PE funds performed above their average investment level of the past three years.

VC ‘i3 Equity’ Partners With Singapore’s Temasek

July 31, 2017 | i3 Equity Partners, an Israeli VC fund, has announced the addition of Singaporean investment company Temasek as its eighth global partner. Founded in 2016, i3 is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, spanning areas such as Smart Home, Robotics, and Transportation. In addition to financial resources, the partnership will give i3 access to networks and services in the Singaporean and Asian markets. The fund is led by Managing Partners Noga Kap and Eran Wagner; its existing global partners include Microsoft Ventures, GE Ventures, and Israeli VC firm Pitango Ventures. Temasek, which was incorporated in 1974, owns a $197 billion portfolio across a broad spectrum of industries.

Outbrain Acquires Slovenia’s Zemanta

July 30, 2017 | Israel’s Outbrain, a content discovery platform, has acquired Slovenia’s Zemanta, a cross-channel media-buying platform designed for the promotion and distribution of marketing content. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Outbrain intends to use Zemanta’s technology to enable new budgets from programmatic partners, brands and agencies to flow into their network. Since its founding in 2006 by CEO Yaron Galai and CTO Ori Lahav, Outbrain has raised $194 million and acquired five companies (including Zemanta).

Japan’s ORIX Buys Stake In Israeli Firm Ormat

July 30, 2017 | Japanese company ORIX has purchased 22.1 percent of Israeli geothermal energy company Ormat Technologies for $630 million. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, will give Ormat exclusive rights to develop, own, operate and provide equipment for ORIX geothermal energy projects in all markets outside of Japan. Ormat was founded in 1965 and went public in 2004. It is currently led by CEO Yehudit Bronicki.

Digital Health Platform Somatix Raises $6M

July 30, 2017 | Somatix, a body motion data (BMD) management platform used for digital health, has raised $6 million in a series A funding round led by Digitalis. The company’s technology uses various sensors built into wearable devices to remotely maintain continuous, bi-directional contact with those under their care. Somatix was founded in 2015 by CEO Eran Ofir and CTO Uri Schatzberg. To date, the company has raised $7.5 million. [Photo: courtesy]

Israel To Launch First Environmental Research Satellite

July 30, 2017 | Israel’s first environmental research satellite, VENµS, will be launched into space August 2 on the “Vega” launcher from French Guiana. This is the second satellite project in which Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has been involved, following the successful launch of the nano-satellite BGUSAT earlier this year. VENµS is Israel’s first scientific observation satellite to conduct agricultural and ecological research, and Prof. Arnon Karnieli, head of the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, is its principal investigator. [Photo courtesy of Ben-Gurion University].

Budding Startup PerimeterX Raises $23M

July 27, 2017 | Israel’s PerimeterX, a provider of behavior-based threat protection technology for cloud, web and mobile, has secured $23 million in a Series B funding round led by Canaan Partners. The new funding will allow PerimeterX to expand in the U.S. and internationally, and broaden its platform into new areas. PerimeterX was founded in 2014 by CEO Omri Iluz and CFO Ophir Ashkenazi and has raised $34.5 million in total.

Israeli Cyber Firm Votiro Raises $9M

July 27, 2017 | Israeli cyber-security startup Votiro has raised $9 million in a funding round led by Australian investor Divergent Group. Votiro intends to use the funds for global expansion, building a broader presence in Asia Pacific and the US, and establishing headquarters in Australia. Votiro was founded in 2009 by CEO Itay Glick and CTO Aviv Grafi. The company has more than 1.5 million users and has raised $12 million in total.

Israeli Startup WalkMe Raises $75M

July 27, 2017 | Israel’s WalkMe, a cloud-based digital adoption platform for businesses, has raised $75 million in a funding round led by Insight Venture Partners. The company will use the funding to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities, strengthen its global reach, and invest in talent. WalkMe was founded in 2012 by CEO Dan Adika, president Rafi Sweary, CPO Eyal Cohen, and Yuval Shalom and has raised $167.5 million to date.

Mobility Tech VC Maniv Raises $40M

July 27, 2017 | Maniv Mobility, an Israeli venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to mobility tech, has raised $40 million. This was twice the target value, and is indicative of the increasing interest in Israeli automotive companies since the acquisition of Mobileye for more than $15 billion this year. An affiliate of Maniv Investments, which was founded in 1997 by Michael Granoff, Maniv Mobility invests in early-stage companies in the new mobility sector. Its portfolio consists of 15 mobility technology startups, mostly in Israel, with some in the US.

Israel To Invest $3M In Coding Bootcamp

July 26, 2017 | The Israel Innovation Authority has tapped $2.8 million for a new coding bootcamp program to rapidly train high-tech employees. The goal is to create an alternative route to joining the hi-tech workforce, focused on market needs, in a maximum 12-month training track, aimed at college graduates in the sciences who are interested in a career shift to computer programming. As of April 2017, market demand for programmers exceeded those available by 2.5 times. Therefore, the program aims to prepare 250 ready-to-work employees at the end of the first year, and 450 new employees by the end of the third year.

Cybersecurity Startup Nyotron Raises $33M

July 26, 2017 | Nyotron, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, has completed a $21 million financing round led by DGB Investments. Founded in 2008 by Nir and Ofer Gaist, the company has developed innovative technology that protects against known and unknown cyber attacks by securing endpoints. The technology offers protection regardless of the type of threat or the attack vector, making it one of the most advanced solutions available. Nyotron is being used by organizations such as El Al Airlines and the Israeli military, and has raised a total of $33 million to date.

SimilarWeb Raises $47M, Now Worth $753M

July 26, 2017 | SimilarWeb, an Israeli digital market intelligence company, has raised $47 million in a Series F financing round. Founded in 2007 by Or Offer and Nir Cohen, the company monitors web and mobile app traffic like competitor Nielson. Companies use the analytics from SimilarWeb to increase their business growth. Viola Growth led the round with participation from CE Ventures, Saban Ventures, and other unnamed investors. To date, SimilarWeb has raised $112.2 million, performed three acquisitions, and is now valued at $753 million, bringing it closer to the $1 billion “unicorn” status.